Crak & I have been meaning to go into the city for a real "night out". You know, the sophisticated, get dressed up, have dinner & be seen, kind of thing. She had mentioned this place, Sushi Samba, to me ages ago & I have read a number of reviews about it & was very interested in going.
We finally committed to Saturday night. We hopped trains & met at Penn around 7:15 pm. We were actually doing the dining after 8pm plan. Very unusual for us. I had not eaten anything since 1:30 & was so excited to be eating at this place that I was all set to run there. It's located on Lex. btwn 19th & 20th & we decided to walk. We talked the entire way & some of the things we said Crak pointed out that we may end up on "Overheard in NY" one day. I could only hope. Anyway, we got to SushiSamba & were surprised to have only a 20 minute wait.
This place is very small.....very loud....and very trendy. Oh so happy to be there!
We went all out. We ordered "small plates" and sushi to follow. She ordered some tuna & crusted bread hting while I ordered a pastel. This was an empanada filled with shitake mushrooms & other stuff on a layer of corn salsa. We had ordered samba juices (a mix of like 5 alcohols) and had worked our way through a bit of the drink on the empty stomach and the small plates came out. The waiter said the names of the items & put them infront of us. We each dug in. Mine was good. Crak kept looking at it...while saying "Oh my god this is so good" and followed up her moan with "I think you have mine". I didn't think so because what I had looked like mushrooms sliced thin. Until I took taht next bite. A strong fishy after-taste followed. My face cringed. She looke dup to catch this & said "It's tuna". I said "Yeah--we're switching" and we passed the plates over the very tiny table. Tahnk god my empanada was fantastic. It quickly took away that fishy taste that I do not appreciate.
This is why we are not good at going to new places with unrecognizable food. We are too busy talking to remember what the heck it is we wanted & then some of us don't even get it until we've chewed it............EW!
The small plates were cleared & the sushi came out. I had california rolls & I believe she had more tuna. With the sushi came chopsticks. I can not use those darn wooden sticks. My hands just won't conform to the position that is required to hold them. I was waiting to flip the cali. roll onto the table next to us. Crak was patient & tried numerous times to teach me.....to no avail. I managed but I would starve if I had to do that on a regular basis.
We even decided to splurge and get dessert......some chocolate banana caramel thing with vanilla bean icecream. It sounded so good. It was just okay. I liked some of the ingredients. She liked others. Together we polished it off.
When we were finished, we started the walk back up to Penn. We talked the WHOLE way --- until we got to a light where we had to wait to cross. This is when two drunk, stoned, toothless older men stopped us...and it went something like this: "Ladies. We just wanted to wish you a good week and a good saturday." Our reply: "Oh...thank you" (insert giggles because we are that pathetic that we are taking compliments from toothless, drunk, stoned older men). He continued "And now we are going to go drink, smoke some pot, and look at more pretty women". To which we reply "That sounds good & that sounds like a plan". People who were also waiting on teh corner to try & cross watched this unfold and were smiling at the lunacy of it all. We sped across the street as soon as the light changed.
BAck at Penn we grabbed Starbucks and talked even more. I was so proud of us for 1. following through 2. going to such a tredny place 3. doing the whole evening out thing in the city.
I can't wait for our next adventure!
